UA - Whens the next product due out?

[Michael D. Mearls 97]

--- You wrote:
Bryant asks...

> So here's a question, meant seriously: what is it about UA 
> that makes us not mind that a) we don't know how the Naked 
> Goddess ascended, and if it was deliberate or coincidental;
> b) when the world is going to end; c) anything at all about
> the motivations of such powerful people as The Freak; and d)
> who's close to ascension in any archetype but The Herald? 
> I mean, these are big important questions that we'll need to 
> answer if we run a high-level campaign. So why isn't it bad 
> that we haven't been given the answers? 
--- end of quote ---

I think that the key is that we have enough tools and info to create our own
antagonists and challenges in UA. Trinity has a very small set of things to
deal with: Psions, Aberrants, aliens. All three of these groups have secrets
and conspiracies that we're going to have to wait to read about in supplements.
UA gives us enough stuff, and enough data about that stuff, that we can create
our own adventures much more easily than in Trinity. I like Trinity, but the
greatest problem I have with it is that I get the sense that the designers
expected us to play in certain ways or follow certain plots, as if everyone
runs only the published adventures. I can't do anything in Trinity without
making major changes to the world or conflicting with stuff that is to be
published. UA has a much wider scope and allows for a much broader range of
subjects. I could probably run a UA game for years without ever creating a
conflict between my game and published resources.

Trinity is like a maze; it has limited options, all of which have to be
detailed sooner or later. UA is like this huge, empty canvas. We all have
plenty of room to doodle without having to push each other out of the way.

I think Trinity would be better if each book noted which story threads and
characters were going to change and which ones were free for the GM to change
without worrying about conflicting with later supplements. Or, if WW spent more
time making a game than making an SF novel in game form. (No offense; I love
Trinity, but the marketing leaves a lot to be desired in terms of playability.)

- Mearls